The young, pre-Smiths Steven Patrick Morrissey spent quite a bit of time honing his craft for words with a touch of biting (while funny) anger towards the music press and artists by writing to UK magazines like NME and Record Mirror. Here are just a few of his published works.
Record Mirror, August 22nd, 1980
Record Mirror May 31st, 1980
Record Mirror
Sounds, September 1976
Record Mirror, 1980
Thirty-five years ago today (July 18, 1981), the then New York-based thrash/metal band Anthrax was formed and started on the road to help change the history of music.
David Taylor, Anthrax fan, compiled a this video of the 1988 classic “Antisocial” over the past three-plus decades, as a a celebratory gift for the band and their 35th anniversary.
Said co-founder Scott Ian, “Thirty-five years have passed since that day and my life has changed profoundly. I am a husband, I am a father. I am a long way from the 17-year-old soon-to-be-college dropout who co-founded a heavy metal band. The only thing that hasn’t changed in 35 years, the one constant, is that I am still the rhythm guitar player in Anthrax. It’s what I GET to do. I GET to play in a band and I never take that for granted.”
So, with all those years, all those experiences, all those memories, what’s the one big takeaway experience that stands out for the guys? Was it when legendary author Stephen King included the band in one of his “Dark Tower” series books?
Or in 2012 when Anthrax became the first metal band to have its music played on Mars, when NASA played “Got The Time” to wake up the Mars Rover, Curiosity? Or how about in 1991 when they received their first Grammy nomination? Maybe it was when the band was caught up in the 2001 U.S. anthrax attacks and considered changing their name due to the PR nightmare that was caused. Or possibly it was when Anthrax made a cameo appearance on the popular 1992 TV series, “Married…with Children.”
Remembers Charlie Benante, the band’s drummer since 1983, “We had such a ball doing that show. We taped the episode twice, once in the afternoon then another one in the evening, which was done with rewrites. They changed some of our lines, but we got bigger laughs the second time so it was all worth it. After the show, we went to a sit-down dinner with the entire cast and crew at a restaurant in Hollywood. Here I am sitting next to Al Bundy [played by Ed O’Neill), and I look over at the booth across from us, and there are Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman having dinner. Al said, ‘hey, let’s go talk to Clint and Morgan,’ and I went ‘whaaaaa???’ He took us over there and introduced us to them – and I’m thinking ‘where am I? Am I here right now? This is actually happening?’ It was just surreal. That stands out as one of the highlights. It wasn’t really a musical thing, but music got us to that. I’m just a guy in a band making music…what am I doing here with these stars?”
Then there is newest member, lead guitarist Jonathan Donais who has a completely different take on his “best Anthrax moment.”
“It was probably 1989 or ’90, whenever the ‘Anti Social’ video blew up at Dial MTV,” he remembers. “It was the first time I’d ever heard Anthrax, and I immediately fell in love with the band.” Donais’ “best Anthrax memory” now happens like Groundhog Day: “I brought a tape of the Dial MTV performance to my guitar teacher and told him I wanted to learn how to play it. Now I get to play every night with the band!”
The most memorable time as a member of Anthrax could have been on September 14, 2011 as it was named “Anthrax Day” in the Bronx. Or June 22, 2010 when The Big Four played together on the same stage for the first time ever in Sofia, Bulgaria.
For Anthrax’s Ian, it was a different occasion. “My ONE thing of thousands of things I’ve done in Anthrax that stands out the most in the world would be playing Yankee Stadium,” he said, referencing The Big Four’s second of only two U.S. concerts, held on September 14, 2011. “For me that is the pinnacle. My mecca. The most NY thing a NY band could ever do. I got to play on stage on the field, in the building where so many of my heroes since I was a child played. It was surreal and overwhelming and I was in tears almost the entire first song, I had so much emotion pouring out of me. Like the words to the song say, I was ‘King of the hill, top of the heap.’
“So, to quote the Scottish poet Robbie Burns,” Ian adds,”‘Here’s to us; who is as good as us? Damn few, and they’re all dead.’ Thank you my friends…35 and counting.”
On September 30, Oh Boy Records will release John Prine’s latest, For Better, Or Worse, a duet album and follow up to the Grammy nominated In Spite of Ourselves. In this timeless album, produced by Jim Rooney, John sings with country sweethearts Iris DeMent, Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, Kathy Mattea, Kacey Musgraves, Fiona Prine, Amanda Shires, Morgane Stapleton, Susan Tedeschi, Holly Williams, and Lee Ann Womack.
The classic songs on For Better, Or Worse, originally recorded by artists such as Hank Williams, George Jones, Ernest Tubb, Buck Owens and others, are in John’s blood. “I cut my teeth on Hank Williams songs,” he says. “When I sing these songs there is a small pipeline straight from my heart to my lips.” The tracks take listeners through the universal cycle of love’s pull, love’s bend, love’s life, and love’s end.
This fall, John will celebrate both the new album and his approaching 70th birthday with two shows at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Sept. 30th & Oct. 1st, where he will be joined by some of the duet partners from For Better, Or Worse.
The growing importance of streaming playlists on Spotify is highlighted in a fascinating new feature on Buzzfeed, which also reveals/reiterates some killer stats about the format, including:
The Music Business Worldwide site estimates that Spotify’s first-party playlists alone are generating around $1m in payouts to the music business every single day.
Earlier this year, Spotify revealed its ten most popular playlists, which you can see below.
“Time can be a villain or it can be a friend. No matter which it choses to it be, it affects us all, some less so so than others. Chicago artist Nathan Wright thinks time will kind to today’s black stars. They will bear up well in the coming years.”
On January 1, 1943, American folk singer Woody Guthrie (July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) produced a list of 33 “New Years Rulin’s”.
Transcript
1. Work more and better
2. Work by a schedule
3. Wash teeth if any
4. Shave
5. Take bath
6. Eat good — fruit — vegetables — milk
7. Drink very scant if any
8. Write a song a day
9. Wear clean clothes — look good
10. Shine shoes
11. Change socks
12. Change bed cloths often
13. Read lots good books
14. Listen to radio a lot
15. Learn people better
16. Keep rancho clean
17. Dont get lonesome
18. Stay glad
19. Keep hoping machine running
20. Dream good
21. Bank all extra money
22. Save dough
23. Have company but dont waste time
24. Send Mary and kids money
25. Play and sing good
26. Dance better
27. Help win war — beat fascism
28. Love mama
29. Love papa
30. Love Pete
31. Love everybody
32. Make up your mind
33. Wake up and fight
Along with specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes—which were often self-deprecating, Bob Hope was celebrated for his long career performing United Service Organizations (USO) shows to entertain active service American military personnel. He made 57 tours for the USO between 1941 and 1991, and Hope was declared an honorary veteran of the United States Armed Forces in 1997 by act of the U.S. Congress.
Some great news for anyone and everyone who falls into the talk radio category – your favorite NPR stations are coming to iHeartRadio. In a brand new collaboration with NPR, more than 260 NPR member stations can add their live News Talk programming to iHeartRadio, to stream directly their 85 million registered users.
Adding NPR member stations to iHeartRadio adds even more signature content and best-in-class News Talk programming, plus it allows NPR stations to reach their audience across more than 80 unique device platforms. NPR listeners who tune in through iHeartRadio will also have the option to donate to the station to support public programming. Talk about a win-win!
The Music Business Association (Music Biz) and data partner LOOP (Lots of Online People) published their “Music & Millennials” report, the first in-depth report from the member-exclusive Music Biz Consumer Insights portal, with 3,014 U.S. respondents, the report breaks down a variety of music consumption patterns by age, providing unique insight into the habits of the millennial generation.
The report shows that 15-to-19 year olds have embraced on-demand streaming as their format of choice, accounting for 51% of their total listening time on a typical day (more than double the overall average of 24%, which includes all age groups). This comes at the expense of more traditional formats, most notably AM/FM radio. While broadcast radio still accounts for the highest listening share among the general population at 35%, 15-to-19 year olds reported that they spend only 12% of their time with the format despite a weekly reach of 65% (on par with the overall average of 78%). This indicates that even though millennials are being exposed to radio, they are not engaging with it, and on-demand streaming is making up the difference.
This is further reflected in millennials’ device usage. AM/FM radio receivers again topped the overall tally, accounting for 33% of the general population’s listening time. However, 15-to-19 year olds bucked the trend once more, saying the device only accounts for 11% of their time. Instead, they rely heavily on connected devices like smartphones, which accounted for 41% of their listening time, more than double the overall average of 18%. This also explains why 15-to-19 year olds are far more likely than the general population to upgrade to a premium streaming account because they want to access the service on their mobile phone. According to the report, 40% of this group cited mobile access as a major factor in the decision to upgrade, compared to only 29% of the general population.
In addition, the report shows that, for the first time, YouTube has overtaken broadcast radio for music discovery among the general population. When asked how they typically discover new music, 34% of all respondents cited YouTube, while only 32% cited AM/FM radio. This was even more prevalent among 15-to-19 year olds, 56% of whom cited YouTube and 23% of whom cited AM/FM radio. However, recommendations from friends remain the #1 source for music discovery, cited by 46% of the general population. Among 15-to-19 year olds, it is neck and neck with YouTube at 56%.
The study also found that some people who have a premium account with a streaming service do not actually pay for that subscription, with 18% of the general population saying their premium access came through a free trial, a bundle with another product/service, or that they use someone else’s account. Among 15-to-19 year olds, 24% said they do not pay for their premium subscriptions, with 11% saying it came with a purchase and 10% saying they use someone else’s account.
“We are thrilled to offer our members this uniquely insightful report, which provides a roadmap for the future of the music business through the eyes of the millennial generation,” said James Donio, President of Music Biz. “The quicker the music business can adapt to new trends, the more successful it will be. By examining how young music consumers access the songs they love, we can begin to understand the market trends of the future and get a head start on optimizing the system for the new generation.”
“This study confirms that younger millennials are moving away from traditional means of music consumption and embracing more interactive music services and devices,” said David Lewis, Co-Founder of LOOP. “We look forward to tracking how those preferences evolve in the coming months and years as they grow and take on new responsibilities in their daily lives.”
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Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.
Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com
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